PHILADELPHIA – Andrew Bynum said Friday that his right knee continues to swell a week after taking part in his first practice of the season and that he's no longer confident he'll play for the 76ers this season.

"Now it's getting a little late, so I really don't know," he said.

Bynum has been sidelined by bone bruises and damaged cartilage in both knees since the Sixers acquired the 2012 All-Star center from the Los Angeles Lakers in a four-team trade in August.

Bynum originally injured his right knee in September and was diagnosed with a "mirror issue" in his left knee in November, when a piece of cartilage broke loose and his joint swelled after going bowling. While Bynum said his right knee felt "phenomenal" last month, his left knee remained problematic as he continued to experience pain and a locking sensation in the joint.

Now he says the left knee feels good.

"It's like, if your right arm is hurting and someone punches you in the left one, you forget about the right one," Bynum said. "So that's kind of where I'm at right now."

The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., originally reported in November that Bynum's knee condition was likely to delay his Sixers debut until late March at the earliest and could cost him the season. Bynum was originally expected to be ready for the Oct. 31 season opener, but the Sixers and Bynum repeatedly pushed back his timetable.

The 7-foot, 300-pound Bynum is making $16.9 million this season and will become an unrestricted free agent this summer, when he's hoping to land a long-term deal and a nine-figure pay day.

"I think being healthy is more important than anything else," Bynum said. "If I'm healthy, I'll get a deal, but I have to be able to play. And I need to get to the point with my body that I'm able to play, however long that takes. … I don't know exactly how it's going to pan out. I can't predict the future. But I'm going to play when I'm healthy, and right now that's not the case."

Bynum, when asked whether his condition is degenerative, said that "50% of the people in the United States have it right now, but they just happen to not play basketball, so it takes a little bit more of a shape in my world. It's frustrating. There's really nothing yet to do about it…

"I think I'll be able to play in some form or fashion in the future," Bynum said. "I think they are getting close with things to do for articular cartilage. They just grew cartilage in a petri dish, so I think science is looking at it, doctors are looking at it, and this is a serious problem, and they're going to come up with something."

Two weeks ago, Bynum continued to maintain that he would definitely play this season.

Sixers coach Doug Collins confirmed Feb. 23 that Bynum asked him and was granted permission to participate in his first practice of the season, a five-on-five scrimmage, the day before, but cautioned that Bynum was overweight and "looked like a guy who had not played in nine months."

"I think it was important for him to get on the floor to at least see where he is, and then for him to know," Collins said Friday. "Andrew … I think he gets misread a little bit. He's in a lot of pain, not only with his legs, but he wants to play.

"Make no bones about it," Collins said, "I know from the time I spent with him that he wants to play, and he's incredibly disappointed that he's not able to play. I want our people, our fans to know that. This is not a guy who's malingering or does not want to be out there. He wants to help his team. "

Bynum visited Jonathan Glashow, the co-chief of sports medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, on Nov. 20, a day after Glashow repaired an articular cartilage lesion in Sixers guard Jason Richardson's left knee. Richardson, 32, is expected to be sidelined for nine to 12 months.

"He said everything everyone else is saying, (that I've) just got to give it time and let (the loose cartilage) grind down," Bynum said about Glashow. "There's nothing medically that is 100% sure to work."

Bynum, 25, had previously been treated by Sixers doctors and his longtime personal orthopedist, David Altchek of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Altchek administered Synvisc lubricating injections in Bynum's ailing knees on Feb. 1, which are supposed to relieve osteoarthritis knee pain for up to six months.

But Bynum later said the injections "didn't help that much, to be honest."

"To me, there's always been that possibility" that Bynum misses the entire season, Collins said. "Does that mean I didn't have hope that he was going to play? Absolutely, we wanted him back. You start looking at maybe we'll have him for 40 (games), well maybe we'll have him for 30, you keep that hope. Everybody has to have hope. Now we're down to 25, 26 games or something like that, and the reality is this season, there's not much more time left in it."

The Sixers are on a season-long seven-game losing streak and, at 22-34, have dropped to a season-worst 12 games under .500 with 26 games to play.

Philadelphia hosts the Golden State Warriors on Saturday and visits the Washington Wizards on Sunday.

"I feel like it's my life," Bynum said. "I'm 25, and I don't want to have no cartilage, because that's really bad. That's it. … I don't want to play in pain."

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